There’s an annual team relay at The 36ONE MTB Challenge that allows all levels of reasonably fit cyclist to enjoy an incredible experience at one of South Africa’s most iconic ultra-endurance events. Contact three of your riding mates now and tell them this…
Paid partnership with Dryland Event Management
The 36ONE MTB Challenge is a 361km race that’s broken into four segments. Each of these segments represents a leg for a four-rider relay team. You can enter any combination of riders in the team relay, but there are prize categories as follows:
- Team of 4 relay Men
- Team of 4 relay Women
- Team of 4 relay Mixed (two men and two women)
Each rider does one leg of the four, which are approximately 90km each. The third leg includes the Rooiberg climb, which is the hardest of the four legs.
“The 36ONE MTB Challenge Team Relay is popular with corporates and clubs that are keen to take on a challenge with a difference. This is a full service event, so riders participating in the race will not need any back-up. Riders are however welcome to have a back-up supporters available at the checkpoints,” said Carel Herholdt of Dryland Event Management, the organisers.
“The Team Relay is a great way to participate an event which would be too strenuous to do solo; and a great way to share the enjoyment of the sport with friends. It also encourages you to push a little harder than you would in a solo event of similar distance. I always find out more about myself when I’m pushed that bit further than I’m comfortable with. Team events are great for this. No one wants to let the team down,” said Bruce Cherington of Johannesburg.
“There was a bit of competition between our three corporate teams, but the main purpose was to enjoy the race and have a nice weekend. As a company, we used the event to raise funds for CANSA. We put names on our team jerseys of cancer survivors, fighters and heroes and raised almost R100k for CANSA in the process,” said Nikki van Wyk of Bloemfontein.
The 2025 edition of The 36ONE MTB Challenge takes place from Friday 23-Sunday 25 May in Oudtshoorn, Western Cape. Encourage three of your cycling/mountain biking friends to enter a team, which costs R5500. You can use a mountain bike or a gravel bike.
In addition to the four-rider Team Relay, there’s also a two-rider Team Relay option (each rider completes approximately 180km) and The 36ONE MTB Challenge Half, a 189km race for Solo Men and Women as well as teams of two, for those keen to share the experience.
New for the 2025 edition is rider tracking, so supporters will be able to follow the race remotely. There will also be a complementary post-race bike wash and burger… Performance incentives have also been added: A bonus of R36 100 will be paid to the first man to finish under 13 hours and the first woman to finish under 15 hours.
Watch the highlights of the 2024 edition here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s-v7YnwDLM
Find out more or enter online now via the race website here.
